Complaint to Next Directory

LilDevil

This is what I plan to send to them, any advice would be great!


I am writing with regards to the above account. On 1 December 2006, I had a phone call from one of your telephone operators informing me that I owed £151.50 and must pay immediately.

I was informed that my reduced payment plan had been cancelled due to a late payment, even though I had made a bill payment of £50.00 on 19 October 2006 – the enclosed statement reflects that the payment was received by you on 20 October 2006.

The operator put me through to someone more senior as I had explained that I had written a letter dated 20 October 2006 – also enclosed, requesting to further reduce the amount I had to pay as I had lost my job.

This Senior Manager was incredibly rude and was insistent that I had made a late payment in October and my reduced payment plan had been cancelled, he would not accept that my payment had been received on time.

I then informed the Manager that I had written a letter letting you know that I had lost my job and had not heard anything from you regarding my offer to of a payment of £25.00 per month until such a time as I found a job. I was informed that a letter had been sent out to inform me that the minimum amount you would accept is £50.00 – I have never received this letter.

I reiterated that I could not afford this much money as I was unemployed, this gentleman was insistent that as I had made a late payment the amount due was now £151.50, he was in no way prepared to make any special dispensations regarding my account. I again said that this amount was more than my fortnightly benefits and the only way I would be able to make a payment was to miss paying my mortgage and rent or to not eat that week – he seemed totally indifferent and the tone of his voice suggested that he could not care less.

This Manager told me that if I did not pay by 20 December 2006, my account would be referred to an external collection agency. I was so distressed by this time that I told him I was happy for him to do that as they would accept my offer of £50.00 per month, my priority is to keep a roof over my head and food on my family’s table.

I have since found a job but still cannot pay such a large amount of money as I have to pass a six month probationary period. I can budget for £30.00 per month – a bill payment left my account on 22 December 2006 – I will continue to pay this until I know if I will be kept on, only then will I be able to review my financial situation.

I then received a phone call again on 22 December 2006 informing me that I had to pay approximately £190.00 immediately or my account would again be referred to an external collection agency.

I again went through all of the above and explained that I had made a payment of £30.00 that day and could not afford any more than this; the lady said she would put a note on my account.

The following day, I received a letter dated 20 December 2006 demanding a payment of £227.25 – amazing considering two days after the letter was written I was told it was approximately £30.00 less bearing in mind I had not yet made a payment.

Finally today I have received yet another phone call demanding immediate payment, I was so upset by this that I was quite rude to the man who called, I informed him that I had spoken to someone less than a week ago and would not be able to pay the £200+ amount that he wanted. He hung up.

As I have mentioned above, I cannot afford the amounts you are requesting from me, I can barely afford to pay my mortgage. I suffer from depression and cannot even afford my prescriptions, making this situation all the more distressing for me.

I once thought Next Directory was a reputable company, now I think you are a mercenary company whose only interest is getting as much money as possible out of their clients at all costs. Whilst I appreciate that accounts need to be paid, you should also take into account the personal circumstances of your customers and to help them reach mutually agreeable payment plans when in difficulties – this, it seems, is not the case at the moment.

I will not tolerate the constant harassment and bullying tactics from your telephone operators, if you continue to call me with seemingly empty threats of external collection agencies or door collectors, I will be forced to seek legal advice regarding this situation. If you still refuse to reduce my payments to £30.00 (£5.00 more than in my first letter), please pass my account to this collection agency as you keep threatening, I am confident that they will accept my offer.

I look forward to hearing from you.

james32_uk

Looks ok. I would suggest trying to find the name of a high up person/director of the company to send a copy of it too.

Sometimes it helps to get high-up people on the case!

raq

I had awful trouble with Next when we went to cccs a couple of years ago. We only owed £152.00 but they where constantly on the phone , plus the letters. I didn't let it get to me too much as we had other bigger fish to sort out.

good luck

Bunnie1982

We have had constant trouble with Next when we went through CCCS, the balance on the account was less than £100 but they refused to accept a £5 monthly payment which was all we could afford. They eventually passed it to an external collection agency (Legal and Trade) who accepted the payment of £5 straight away

Nuclear_Tom

Good luck with it!!!

Next have not been at all cooperative with me. I ended up settling my arrears in full to keep them off my back, but they called twice a day despite me writing to them offering half the repayment for 3 months.

Fortunately I was in the position to do this, but really did feel bullied by them.

Let them pass it to the debt collectors in my opinion.

LilDevil

Further to my first post, they've rang up again threatening external collectors, well, I lost my rag and told them that I'd written a letter saying I could only afford £30 per month and I was sick of their harrassment, and that I was happy with them contacting external people.

I pointed out that they'd been threatening external collectors for ages and I wished they would because I was getting sick of all this, they said they wait for 4 months before doing that!!!! Well why keep threatening if they're not going to do it for 4 months, stupid people.

I owe them about £800 and do want to pay it off, but I can't pay as much as they want, they refuse point blank to accept less than £50, so I've told them again that I want them to refer me to an external agency because I know they will accept my reduced payment.

Sorry, just needed to rant!

watcherman

Next seem to be pretty irresponsible, we spent the odd few pounds every couple of months or so with them, then one day the statement arrives with a £3600 credit limit on it!

Stick to your guns, as you say a DCA will probably be more flexible as you are trying to work your way out of debt.

scaredy_cat_2

how awful! rant all you want lildevil - you are being reasonable by offering to pay anything at all - and £30 a month is a reasonable offer. good luck with it

lyric_grace

Sounds like Next are real bullies, I sometimes shop with next but this has put me off quite alot, I will think twice about shoping again as I can't stand bullies!! I hope you can get this sorted out. Good luck!